Lubbock Takes First Step With Future Water Plan

The city is taking a big step toward improving the quality of our wastewater. That water could some day be recycled as our drinking water. The city hired a firm to improve our wastewater facility.

Some of the treatment machinery treat our waste water at the lowest level. There will be a major overhaul in three years. Most of the machinery will go away. The city plans to spend $6.3 million on improving the machines. It will make our waste water a higher quality than it is right now.

Then, if the city needs to discharge more affluent water down the north fork of the Brazos River, the affluent will be safer for the environment. "This is one step to get higher quality of water for future use," said Ches Carthel, Chief Engineer for Water Utilities for the city of Lubbock.

It means that we could see the waste water recycled and in our homes, but that will not happen in the near future.

The affluent right now has high levels of nitrates. The city is limited to how much they can release downstream and how much they can apply to farms outside the city. Carthel says the improvements are funded through sewer fees.

When construction starts in three years, Carthel says our sewer rates could increase to help pay for all of the improvements.